one more five horu drive to home...then ill stop spamming the status bar. promise. go back to only updating it once every few months
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1 yr ago
back in my home state. actually a real nice hotel compared to the last one that had cockroaches in the bathroom. so thats cool and good. ready to get home tomorrow. blehhhhjgkjgkjhatk
Sakura Level 10: 29/100 Location: Suoh Word Count: Points Gained: 1 New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 10: 30/100
“Holy crap…” Sakura said, peering into the massive space. ”This is a computer?! How many bits do you think it has? 64 or 32?” She asks, jokingly.
Sakura spent a bit of time wandering around, distancing herself from the group by a small bit. “ECHO!” She shouts, cupping her hands around her mouth just to get a feel for how big this place actually was. Not infinite, because an echo did come back. A security camera, however, did pan her ways.
”O tto!” Sakura flailed and hid behind cover. “Ehehe…that was stupid. My bad. I just didn’t see anybody so I figured.” Sakura reddened. To be fair, it did seem like they had gotten by all the people security, now it was just the automatic stuff.
“Let’s go.” Sakura said, taking Midna’s hand and keeping her eyes open to watch herself get teleported.
“Wow, that’s so amazing, Midna-san. I don’t know what we’d do without you. I guess you and Blazermate-san should never be on the same team so both can use teleporters, huh?” She asked.
Sakura glanced around the place. “Yeah, seriously!” She sat down, feeling truly safe and unbothered for the first time in a while. “Phew…”
The street fighter wasn’t as concerned. “It’s probably fine. We’re doing our thing.”
When Midna offered up a chance to get out of this place, Sakura was more than obliged. “Aha! Sounds awesome!” She clapped her hands together. She left a quick note:
Midna-san teleported us for a quick break. See you soon!
Once there, Sakura blinked, taking in another massive vista. The World of Light was full to the brim of absolutely bonkers huge places. The night, however, was pleasnt, if chilly. Sakura waved at the massive bird thingy, imagining the fantastic circumstances in which it was freed. She smiled, clearly pleased at the idea of seeing tangible good the Seekers had done, even if she wasn’t involved. At the very least this bird was getting to mind its own business, free of control and forced conflict forever more.
“That crap can’t be good for your lungs. That’s the worst pollution I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been to Beijing.” Sakura said with a sigh, scratching her head. Though, it might just be clouds. It was hard to tell. She looked up at the sky above and saw the stars, foreign stars, of a distant planet. The twisted moon caused her to tilt her head.
“It’s kinda cool looking though, right?” She asked. Maybe it was just the novelty of seeing a different moon so up close.
“I wonder if those stars are even real. Everything is so mashed up together here. But the universe is so unbelievably big, I have a hard time imagining we’re in a real one. There would be so many other worlds out there…why would all the Guardians be on this one if there were more?” Sakura asked.
“I dunno. It just seems fake to me. No way Galeem could steal the entire universe like that.” She said, looking up at the sky. “I bet if you could fly up there you’d see they’re just really bright lights just on the far side of the moons and other planets up there.”
Karin Level 6: 58/60 Location: Neuron HQ Word Count: short Points Gained: 1 New EXP Balance---
Karin Level 6: 59/60
Karin felt like she had picked her targets poorly- even with Sandalphon and Goldlewis helping Geralt and her, Penance was an immovable tank. But slow. Very slow. If someone had high ranged damage output, they could just stay out of range and shoot Penance down, forcing her on the offensive despite her immense tanking ability. Instead, the implicit threat of the rest of the battle happening while they waited Penance out forced Geralt, Goldlewis, and Karin to take Penance on exactly how she wanted them too. Someone like Susie would have been a better fit for this battle.
Too late, now! The bout had to be finished as soon as possible. Karin jumped over the radiating thorns. ”How can you possibly enjoy fighting like this?” She asked Penance.
”You simply stand there and spam the same cheap spell over and over again! It’s completely brainless, anyone could do it!” Karin complained.
That was when, finally, Geralt and Goldlewis wore through and Penance was left vulnerable. Relatively, anyway. Despite being tired and exhausted, she committed fully to defense, blocking the trio’s dogpile attacks as she was forced backwards. Karin took the lead and snatched her wrist, crashing into Penance with her shoulder and throwing her a large distance away. Karin had higher mobility than the other two, and she zipped up on Penance as the judge rolled to her feet.
Karin and Penance made eye contact as Karin approached, and the moment seemed to stretch. Karin was low and forward in her dash, her arms tight and held to her body like knives.
In a matter of moments, the battle reached its conclusion. Penance swung at Karin and she flipped over, landing behind Penance, side-stepping to avoid a crushing follow up. She stepped in to capture Penance’s arm and interpose her free arm against Penance’s shield, before slamming her elbow into Penance’s jaw. The judge jerked backwards and Karin delivered a swift barrage of kicks, sending the exhausted and defeated Penance sliding along the ground to land near Goldlewis and Geralt.
Karin stood up straight with a breath, lowering her palms in a calming stance. ”I suppose I can give you more credit than that.” Karin admitted now that it was over.
Level 8: 010/80 Word Count: shor Location: Mercy Dream Points Gained: 1 NEW EXP balance--- Level 8: 11/80
—
Jesse nudged Ganondorf on the shoulder, reaching up a bit to do so. Ganondorf, of course, was taller than her, though Jesse wasn’t exactly short herself standing at 5 feet, 10 inches. “We made it. Couldn’t have done it without you, Ganondorf.” She was happy to hear Nadia had greeted them.
“Our reward, a big, shitty, spooky prison full of who knows what. Out of the fire, and into the differently colored fire.” Jesse remarked. Good one. She thought sarcastically to herself. She leaned over the railing and got a good look at the massive complex. Many of the floors seemed open for a person capable of flight to access without much difficulty. The boss could realistically be anywhere within this place. If Jesse had to take a guess, though, the chances were it was deeper within the complex, on the bottom floor. The Seekers had already done some work on dealing with the monstrous inhabitants.
Suddenly Bowser appears, battling Mind Flayers and disrupting Jesse from her butterfly watching. At the same time, somewhere, Sectonia seemed like she was in a bit of a pickle. While she’d probably be fine, she wouldn’t be able to succeed in her goal of getting the treasure.
“You can help the Koopas, I’ll go with your, er, minions, to help the Queen Bee.” Jesse said. “I’m sure you’re sick of me by now, anyway.” She said with a cheeky smirk. “I’ll meet up with you after we’re done!”
Jesse began following the sound of conflict and the Moblins, since they seemed to know where they were going. As she traveled, she looked across the gap and saw a group of Chop Goblins carrying the chest away. From the chest, new Chop Goblins popped out every second and scattered to presumably where Sectonia was. She could hear high-pitched, aggressive voices. "Chop chop! Chop chop!" The goblins said as they emerged.
“Holy shit. That’s going to get out of control real fast.” Jesse said to the Moblins, who lined up at the railing and began throwing spears across the way.
Jesse switched to Grip and began popping the Chop Goblins in their big heads, turning a few to dust. When she had killed one of them holding up the chest, she leapt into the air and began to Levitate over the large fall. She reached out with her hand to pull it towards her with Launch. It wrenched out of one Goblins hand, flattening him against the railing and decapitating him as it passed over.
Jesse watched as another pair popped out and plummeted three layers to their deaths. She reached into her jacket to produce the Tool Gun. Fine manipulation of a heavy object was difficult, and the Chop Goblins popped out to the side of the chest on Jesse’s right. One of them plummeted, but another managed to jump far enough to cling to the fence she was nearby. The Moblins stabbed it through the gaps in the fence, killing it and preventing it from causing her any trouble.
Jesse attached several balloons to the back of the chest, so that it slowly began to float upwards while the opening faced downwards. Then she floated back over and clung into the railing, her Levitation running out before she could float back over.
If all went well, the chest would begin to float up while any Chop Goblins that came through were faced with an immediate death drop. It would eventually float towards the ceiling of Layer One. They emerged, they fell, they splatted. It was a grim existence.
But Jesse couldn’t help but laugh at the absurd sight. “Chop chop? More like 'drop, drop,' amiright?” She said to the Moblins on the other side of the fence with a grin. If she had known they were called Chop Goblins, the pun might, might, have had a slight chance of being funnier.
“Yeah, no? Maybe?” She asked, not getting much of a response from Ganon’s creatures. “Do you guys speak English?”
The "daycare" sure was bizarre. Everyone had followed Luka in, either unwilling to split up or just as curious about it.
”So I was really hoping that this would just be a Daycare for the important people working past this security checkpoint but looks like that was pretty foolish of me” Minda broke the silence to comment on the cycling ring they were looking at. ”I mean what even is this? They’re rotating eggs?” she asked before hissing with annoyance as the center of the room flashed brightly, blinding her to whatever was going on in there.
"Hey, they're holding Pokéballs!" Pit pointed out, finger indicating the line of people queuing into the center room. As he said it, he seemed confused. Weren't Pokémon outlawed in Midgar? "And that light kind of looks like... wait..."
After a beat to put two and two together, Pit's eyes widened and he whipped around to face the other three. "You think this could be where they make the P-Types...?! It's practically right out in the open, I was expecting some kind of secret lab or something!"
Luka looked aghast. “If that’s true…well, I’d shudder to think of the implications. Things might be a lot different than we thought.” His face tightened as he squinted past the cyclists toward the Daycare’s center structure, trying to make out more details. “I know we’re short on time, and not in great shape for any more fights, but do you think we should check it out?”
Sakura shrugged nervously. She had ducked behind a nearby desk. ”I mean, it’s pretty creepy. But aren’t we kinda screwed if we get caught?” She asked. ”There’s dozens of people in here.”
That had not escaped Luka’s notice, but he seemed less afraid than one might think. “The question is, how many of them are combatants. I don’t see any weapons out there. Just eggs.” He put one hand to his chin. “With all the eggs around, plus equipment or other stuff precious to their operation, just the threat of us wrecking the place might be enough that we could get in and out unscathed.” Luka looked up at the others. “Your call.”
Pit couldn't say the lack of weaponry meant there were no fighters around, after all if they really were fusing with Pokémon then they'd be able to shoot lightning, fire, and all kinds of other things. But Luka made a good point that the powers that be may not want to risk damaging the daycare in a fight. More than that, though...
"We definitely have to check it out!" Pit said, fighting to keep his voice down. "What if they're fusing people against their will? We can't just leave them. Plus they're killing a bunch of cute little baby Pokémon!"
”Even if they can’t risk fighting back, they can still raise the alarm” Midna pointed out, but not to shut things down ”So I suggest we go in there like we’re meant to be there. If we’re luck these people won’t have had time to have heard we’re enemies of the state yet.”
After a moment spent thinking, Luka nodded. “That’s not a bad idea. Even if this place creates the P-types that join Psych-OSF, it seems more like a Shinra deal than an OSF one. Chances are they didn’t receive orders from the brass.”
With the majority in favor, the team got moving. They strolled into the Daycare at a measured pace, making no attempt at stealth. Even if they had, the outer track of this room was well-lit and lacked hiding places, especially given the number of bikers essentially on high-speed patrol. In fact, when the Seekers crossed paths with the cyclists, they barely acknowledged the newcomers’ presence. They just steered around to give them a wide berth so as not to endanger anyone; clearly, they were already doing everything their jobs required of them. A short time later, everyone reached the entrance to the Daycare’s center structure. With no doors in the way, everyone inside could see everyone outside and vice versa, but if the people in line for fusion looked nervous, it wasn’t because of the Seekers. Luka guessed that didn’t know how things were run around here either, and that they amounted to little more than patients at a doctor’s office.
Without raising any aggression or alarms so far, the team could enter and scope out the central chamber. In truth, it really did look like a doctor’s office, at least in part. On one side of the aisle, four operating chairs surrounded by medical instruments machines were spaced out evenly, and against the wall was a smaller chamber about four times the size of a phone booth, elevator off the ground and featuring a sort of spigot that made it look almost like a giant gumball machine, albeit with pitch black walls and a door instead of glass. On the other side of the room, the walls were lined with a number of large cells, stacked up all the way to the ceiling with walkways around each row, accessible by personal lift. These ones featured darkened glass that the newcomers couldn’t see through, as well as a pipe system leading toward a handful of hoppers, each of which contained several eggs. There were four PCs arranged in this part, and in the center stood a big desk covered in papers, ledgers, and computer screens. Nobody was sitting there currently; instead, the doctor was helping a subject into a chair. The subject looked young, with short dark hair, and to Midna at least he looked just a tiny bit familiar. Once seated comfortably, he offered the pokeball in his hand to the scientist, and right after he accepted it he happened to see that the Seekers had arrived.
“Good evening,” he greeted them, his voice calm and affable. He was a pale man, with slicked-back platinum blonde hair accentuated by a very long cowlick, half blue and half red, that wound around his head almost like a halo. He wore glasses, gloves, and a long white lab coat with blue and red triangle patterns scattered across it. In addition to being somewhat barrel-chested, he had large, fluffy, bulky white wings on his back. All in all, while he looked every bit a professional scientist, he was also unmistakably avian -or perhaps even angelic- in appearance. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure. My name is Colress. What can I do for you?”
”Ilia” the princess lied with a tone of casual authority she had never used with the Seekers, one which despite this seemed both well practiced and trained. She deliberately flicking her Flygon tail behind her to draw a glance of attention to her fused nature as she continued ”My associates wanted some reassurances that everything you are doing here is-” she paused, flexing her fingers as she made a show of search for the right words, before concluding ”-for the greater good”
The smiling scientist pursed his lips, his eyebrows raised slightly. There was a trace of laughter in his eyes as he discreetly glanced at Luka, who was trying not to wince.
Sakura stood up straight with her hands at her side, hoping the uniform she wore lended their whole group a little more respectability and believability. ”That’s right.” She said. ”...They’re with the Board of Ethics.” Sakura added, taking a moment to search for the right words.
“Interesting. I wasn't aware of any such entity. I do tend to absorb myself in my work, though, so who knows,” Colress replied after a moment, his manner and tone unruffled. “If that's your sole concern, then, well, yes. Without the shadow of a doubt.” After sliding the pokeball into his pocket, he crossed his arms, his expression still one of polite neutrality. “I’ll admit that isn't a very informative answer, though. A single word isn't liable to convince, well, anyone. Is there anything else the, ah, ‘Board’ would like to ask? I'm quite happy to speak candidly, you know.”
”We do have a tendency to be forgotten in such a large organization, so no offense taken” Midna replied, seamlessly playing along with Sakura’s addition to the combination of joke and ruse, before agreeing ”and yes, it will take more than that. You could start by talking us through your process. From the outside looking in you’ve got a pretty unorthodox looking set up in here, so some clarification would be appreciated to clear up any possible misunderstandings”
Still looking amused, Colress complied. “Well then, I must be sure to do the best I can. Let's see…” He put his hand to his chin, thinking about a way to describe the operation simply but effectively. “In brief, this is a clinic where the supernatural animals known as Pokemon are cohabitated, bred, raised to adulthood, and then harvested for their spirits. These spirits are then used in transfusions for people like young Souta here to grant them various abilities.” He tousled the nervous-looking boy's head in order to help calm him down.
He then turned his attention back to the newcomers, his expression curious. “I understand how this may seem distasteful. However, have you considered the meat industry? How much beef, chicken, fish, and pork it takes to sustain a city like Midgar? If you never see it firsthand it's easy to ignore, but every burger and filet is an animal that died so that we could live. As per the same regulations, we ensure that every animal is completely unconscious so that none suffer.”
Colress crossed his arms. “There's also the medical industry. How many millions of lives have been saved by medicines developed through animal testing?” Glancing over toward the patients in line with a sympathetic look, he continued. “And consider Midgar itself. A city fraught with constant danger. Laden with institutions few can trust. If the life of one animal can give you the power to protect your home, your family…not to mention the ability to access Psynet, I believe it's a worthwhile trade.” He nodded toward Midna’s tail. “Wouldn't you agree?”
Alright, so they weren't killing baby Pokémon, and Colress made a good point. Pit wasn't at all sure about the level of a Pokémon's sentience (in his experience some were and some weren't?), so the thought to bring that up didn't cross his mind at all. What Colress hadn't addressed so far was the people element to the operation here.
The group's pretense was flimsy, and though at first Pit tried to keep up with it by crossing his arms, doing his best to appear authoritative, and letting the others do the talking, now he gave that pretense up.
"What about him?" he said, gesturing to the boy named Souta, then to the line of people at large. "What about them?
"Having a Pokémon and fusing is illegal, but you've got both going on right here! And civilians fighting Others is illegal too, so it's practically like forcing people to join!"
He turned away from Colress, facing the people yet to have fused. "Is that something you all signed up for? On your own, or because you didn't feel like you had a choice?"
Put on the spot, the queued patients looked uncomfortable, which allowed Colress to step in. “Why don’t we answer your questions in order? It’s true that it’s illegal for citizens to own psychic-type Pokemon or perform fusion themselves. Why do you think that is?” His questioning gaze seemed to invite Pit to slow his roll and think. “It’s because of the inherent risk. In the city, psychic-type Pokemon will suffer because of ambient psynet overload, and either shut down or go berserk. As for fusion, what do you think would happen if ordinary people could obtain potentially unlimited power through murder?”
He crossed his arms. “Think of it like a gun. If anyone could get a gun without any kind of official process whatsoever, and then use it to easily obtain more guns, it would be anarchy. By strictly controlling fusion, we limit who can get a gun, how many one can get, and also establish records so that if anyone misuses their gun, we know exactly who it was and can take action.” He shrugged. “It’s natural that those who wish to protect Midgar by joining Psych-OSF would want power to do so, but recruitment is by no means required.” Nodding at the patients, he reached his conclusion. “Everyone here is here because they want this. If they feel like they didn’t have a choice, it’s not because we’re forcing them, but because it is a terribly cruel world we live in. One where everyone needs a little help to survive.”
"Urk..." Pit wasn't good with dealing with rhetoric. He struggled for a response, but Midna stepped in for him.
”That sounds very logical and thought out, which does raise the question as to why all this was a secret in the first place? Given the total moral catastrophe that the previous version of this project was, you have to understand that the board is just a little skeptical that the justification you now need to give public is all there is too it” Midna, whos tongue hurt from biting it, now relaxed her jaw to responded to the sales pitch they’d just been given, before asking ”For one but are people aware of all the side effects? The way fusion changes not just the body but also the mind, and as well as the way that fusion always comes with negative effects as well as positive ones? For two, there is the issue that Midgar is only a small part of this cruelly crafted world. Will non-citizens entering the city for the first time be able to apply for this if they have fused before arrival? The same goes for those who arrive with psychic pokemon companions, are they seized, detained, and processed?”
A lot of the references to things like animal testing, factory farming and gun control had gone way over her head, but the issues she had brought up, oh she was very intimately familiar with them.
Sakura just stood there, arms at her side, watching the discussion unfold. Suppressing her nervousness, she still thought that this was a bad idea. Maybe she was just being cynical for once, but this Colress guy didn’t look like he bought their disguise at all. She gripped at the legs of her pants. ”You Board of Ethics people sure ask a lot of questions.” She said. As for her thoughts about what Colress said, it all sounded about right to her, but what did she know? They were here to place down a sneaky teleporter and now there were witnesses to them coming in here.
Her remark seemed to bring a smile to the scientist’s face. “Why, you took the words right out of my mouth, young lady,” Colress said breathlessly, holding his hands up in a helpless manner. “That was such a barrage, I can scarcely even begin to respond. I’m all for a friendly debate, but is the ‘Board’ more invested in asking questions, or receiving answers?” His tone was jocular. “A verbal firefight is liable to sow needless confusion and panic, and I’m no orator.”
Colress sighed wearily, putting a hand to his head with a pained expression. “You know, this brings to mind a certain group of animal rights activists. Extremely uninformed, especially about the big picture, yet more than happy to rock the boat at every turn. Could you imagine if such people were to infiltrate a restricted area like this, posing as Shinra employees? Why, I’d have to ask them for their IDs.” He shook his head, as if to say perish the thought. “To see the world in black and white like that…I’m almost envious.”
After shaking his head, the scientist produced the pokeball he’d pocketed earlier. “I’ve enjoyed this ‘meeting of the minds’, but it’s been a long day. We have just a few more treatments before we’re done, and I’d rather not keep these folks here any longer than need be. Nor bother them needlessly. If you have any other questions, please direct them to my boss, Professor Hojo. Now, if you don’t mind leaving me to my work…” Colress smiled. “I certainly don’t mind leaving you to yours.”
At this, a somewhat nervous Luka stepped forward and spoke up. “We understand, Dr. Colress. We’ll leave you to it, thank you for your time.” He tentatively reached up to take Midna by the hand and gently pull her back in the direction of the exit.
She let herself be pulled away, Midna simply had a last word it seemed, and it was one that had nothing to do with ethics and that was simply that ”Not to worry, I’m sure we’ll have words with him soon enough” before striding away, tail swishing behind her. Then she paused, and half turned to ask ”But I’ll leave you with this: who would win in a fight, a soldier with some of a pokemon's power, or a soldier and a pokemon who fight side by side?” before continuing without waiting for an answer.
Once they'd all left, Pit let out a heavy breath. He seemed agitated, but uncertain.
"Aw man, what should we do?" he wondered aloud, shifting from foot to foot. "You think they're all really volunteers in there? But we know they're using the P-Types for evil, so we could... shut it down? But..." Pit looked up at the tower, so close by now. He sensed the hesitation Sakura had been giving off since they spotted the place, on top of the lies Midna had told to avoid a straight up confrontation, so maybe going gung-ho would be stupid if it meant they were caught before getting to Arahabaki. But leaving it alone felt wrong too, on behalf of both the people and Pokémon involved.
"Argh, what should we do?!" he repeated, vigorously scratching his head with both hands while trying to force the answer to manifest in front of him. His golden laurel ended up a little lopsided, and remained silent.
Luka looked conflicted. “Right now, we should focus on Arahabaki and the Guardian. They’re our primary concern. If we should be doing anything about Colress, it should be counting ourselves fortunate we ran into someone who cares more about his work than about us.”
Sakura nodded. ”Seriously.” Sakura said. ”We’re so close to the home stretch, Pit-kun.” She was very eager to face the Guardian. The idea of screwing it up at the last second was a stone in her stomach.
Pit closed his mouth tightly, biting back the "buts" he could think of. It was times like this when he was unsure of what the best course of action was that he was most thankful to have his friends and allies' voices in his ear, since he didn't have Palutena's. One quick internal struggle later and the angel sighed. "You guys are right. Beating the Guardian will help everyone, and we can... always come back and make sure everyone's alright after that!"
”We also know what the head of the snake is called now, and Professor Hojo sure seems to have a lot of bodies we’d be able to deal with in one fell swoop if we have that word with him” Midna pointed out with a flex of a briefly clawed hand.
As the Seekers left the Daycare, a bright surge of prismatic light from the facility’s central chamber prompted Luka to look back over his shoulder one last time, his misgivings clear on his face, before he closed the door behind him.
Sakura Level 10: 24/100 Location: Suoh Word Count: shorb Points Gained: 1 New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 10: 25/100
Sakura was excited. It was time for a dangerous mission into the heart of the city to find the Guardian. Finally, the Seekers had waded through all the muck and confusion and had cleared the way to get to the big bad at the center of it all! No way Sakura would miss out on this.
Her agility and dexterity more than permitted it, but stealth wasn’t exactly her forte. Still, with Mental Connection and Teleport, she was a nimble and agile sneaky little Street Fighter. As long as she didn’t get too close to any guards so they could hear her footsteps.
A lot of these people she recognized. They were once her allies in the tunnels, but they would no doubt turn on her because of their orders just like the others. If only she could just waltz up to them!
”Stupid face, plastered all over the city…why am I even wearing this crummy uniform if it isn’t even a disguise?!” She muttered to herself. Though she looked down at her cool cropped body armor and combat boots, and tilted her head with acknowledgement. It was pretty cool. But she was going to change out of it again soon enough.
Teleporting was loud, as Luka demonstrated. Sakura used Teleport and Mental Connection to keep up with Luka, mostly following in his footsteps given their similar ability. She hopped from building to building, staying in a low crouch. She didn’t want to risk any close contact with the defenders and preferred to stay as far away as possible. Eventually Sakura found her way to the gate. She scaled its height with a hop and grabbed onto the edge, peaking over and scanning the area on the other side. Seeing some crates and some rubble to hide behind, and seeing how far away everyone was, she teleported to that spot and officially made it to the other side of the checkpoint.
”Hoooaah…watchaa…” Sakura made quiet, sneaky ninja noises to herself under her breathe proud of her stealthy accomplishment. She would follow the general direction of the Seekers, coordinating with Luka using Brain Talk to make sure the team didn’t get too separated.
Karin Level 6: 57/60 Location: Quarantine Valley Word Count: short Points Gained: 1 New EXP Balance---
Karin Level 6: 58/60
Karin didn’t mean to steal any limelight, but her relatively tiny fists weren’t good for much other than capitalizing on weak points that she created with brute force, or that her teammates provided for her. ”Ah. Splendid. Another easy victory for the Seekers.” Karin clapped her hands together quietly.
When Giovanna showed up and invited them to pursue Jena, Karin cast a reluctant look over her shoulder at Quarantine Valley. Neuron was to be handling this, yes? That was the plan. In that case it made sense, she supposed, to go where the Seekers could do the most good by eliminating the most evil. Even with all her skill, she was only one woman, and the Seekers seemed to want to pursue their foe.
It didn’t quite sit right with her, even if she could easily rationalize the decision. Though she knew if Sakura was here, she would follow her heart without question. Karin stepped onto the nostalgic craft and followed the rest of the Seekers to their destination. It was a two-for-one special. Neuron and Reunion tyrants, all worthy of a proper thrashing. Their allies had been turned against them, however, revealing the presence of a Consul member among them. Even better!
”Next time let’s abandon anyone who hasn’t been Friend Hearted, shall we?! They tend to be more trouble than they’re worth!” Karin shouted, rushing to Geralt’s side to help him deal with the powerful Penance. She had a shield that was protecting her, and it would extract its tax in blood and pain before it was broken.
Karin did her part, suffering the recoil damage and striking the shield with her palms and legs, and then jumping and dashing backward to try and avoid as much damage from Penance as possible. When Geralt took the lead again, Karin fired her grappling hook to a nearby metal plating on the railing and wrenched it free, pulling it towards her and then flinging it towards Penance in a single smooth motion.
Karin Level 6: 56/60 Location: Quarantine Valley Word Count: short Points Gained: 596 New EXP Balance---
Karin Level 6: 57/60
Karin was caught off guard when Sandalphon decided they did not, in fact, have anything better to do, and fired away at Jena. ”Oh, wow!” And here she thought her beration was a big enough time waste already. She was, Karin supposed, a threat. But to be honest, she thought that Jena and Neuron and whoever else deserved each other.
Regardless, Karin prepared to act, only for a much, much bigger problem to make itself apparent. The massive Homunculus shattered the earth and made itself known.
”Ah, yes…this is something more along the lines that I had in mind. But…” Karin took a few steps backwards. She would need to think of something a little more clever. Engaging these abominations in CQC would be unwise, even if she could outmaneuver it, damaging it is more of a matter of timing.
For her, anyway! Her teammates got right to work, no timing needed. The thing was big and tanky but completely without support, and the Seekers were shredding it to pieces. Easier said than done, but Karin watched them lay on the damage from a safe distance, trying to find her moment to strike. And her strike would be made possible by how much the beast was softened up. Karin had difficulty with monsters in the past but she was starting to piece together what her role should be when facing them.
Karin avoided stray beams and shockwaves, grappling around the arena for a positional advantage. Geralt and Zenkichi faced it head on, Blazermate and Susie were support and damage. Everyone had a part to play. The legs were somewhat damaged at that point, maybe the heiress could work with that.
She ran her hand along a wall, feeling for its support point. As a student of architecture she had a feeling for such a thing- not the bricks that could be pulled apart but the metal beams that made up the ribs and skeleton of a building. When she found it, she punched into it and fired her grappling hook into the steel. ”Goldlewis!” Karin called out. She was standing across the way, the beast in front of and in between them.
She fired her line across, aiming at his coffin. ”Hold fast!” She shouted. Then she ascended to the top of the building with a quick series of pulls using her grappling hook.
Assuming Goldlewis and the building head fast as the beast was brought to stumble and charge towards the taut line held across the street. When it reached it, Karin hoped it would fall over, trip, or at least lose a single step so she could strike.
When the time was right Karin leapt from the roof, spun, and rotated, coming down like a falling knife, slicing through the air. She shot out her arm and attached a grapple line to the beast itself, and began to reel herself in at high speed, the wind whipping through her hair. She front flipped, grit her teeth, and then flung her body down feet first, arms crossed over herself, to puncture the top of the skull of the beast. It was unfortunate for such a refined noblewoman as herself to be stuck right into the viscera, but that was the cost of fighting with ones body and not with a weapon.
”Yaaah!” Karin yelled, coming down with her flying drill kick from above. It she had too, she could pull herself out and do a similar attack again, but she was hoping the beast would be weakened enough that this would seal the deal. At least stun it enough so that her teammates could do so.
Karin Level 6: 55/60 Location: Quarantine Valley Word Count: short Points Gained: 1 New EXP Balance---
Karin Level 6: 56/60
Karin watched the screen and listened to Jena prattle on, her lip curling indignantly the longer she was forced to endure it. Finally she could suffer it in contemplative silence no longer. Especially when she said she was the only one who could stay afloat, as if she was not the one who brought the flood waters in the first place.
Treacherous snake! How dare she?! Anyone standing close enough to Karin would hear her whisper these words through clenched teeth. She had no idea she even said them.
”Join you? You must be delusional. You have poisoned the commoners you claim to protect for your own gain! Revolution. Hah!” Karin was a woman of immense privilege herself. And for a long time she abused that power for her own gain, and treated the people beneath her like garbage. It took a long time to crawl out of that hole and she hadn’t done it by herself, and in many ways she still had a long way to go. But if there was one advantage of her shaded past, it was knowing corruption when she saw it.
”As if Karen Travers and Seiran and yourself aren't of the same ilk that tyrannize this city. This is little but a glorified military coup. Despots clawing at despots while the innocent suffer. The people of Midgar will only be truly free when they hang the lot of you!” She shouted, impassioned. ”If we didn’t have better things to attend to, and if I wasn’t so sure you were plunging headlong into your timely demise already, I’d come up there and destroy you all myself.”
Jena’s callous, desperate arrogance had annoyed Karin greatly. She let out a breath and straightened up her posture, clearing her throat. Regathering her composure, she turned the next part of her words towards the Seekers. ”We shall remain here, and do what needs to be done; protect the people.” She said to them with a nod, knowing without a doubt her assertion about the Seekers intentions were true. Never would her noble cohorts align themselves with such a villain. It was a shame that as far as Karin knew, no one with power in the city had good intentions at heart. A great deal of suffering would be yet to come before the citizens reclaimed their agency and took back Midgar for themselves. In order to do that, they needed to be alive, and the Seekers had the strength and skill to do their part in making sure the community survived.
Sakura Level 10: 15/100 Location: Suoh Word Count: 1,277 Points Gained: 2 New EXP Balance--- Sakura Level 10: 24/100 +7
Sakura’s mouth had fallen open as she watched the message being played on the screen. It was a succinct call to action. ”Seems that way, Midna-san.I guess it’s up to the people.” Sakura said, eyes wide. ”But, wait, forget all that for a second. Raz-kun… what the heck happened with the guy and the knife and all that? Please?”
Still a little nervous about getting framed and almost killed for the murder, Raz was happy to oblige. "Uh, yeah, yeah, sure. I was...well, basically, we all got a proximity chat through Brain Talk from the Otherlobe. It was Zanotto, so we couldn't, you know, ignore it. Most of the Others were gone, and the fighting moved closer to the Shinra Building, but there were still some stragglers here and there. And those Septentrions made things even trickier. So we got split up, and I decided to rush to help Zanotto. I reached this courtyard just as he rushed out of this, like, side door? He saw me and ran over, carrying this heavy box he had cuffed to his wrist. He was super panicked, said he needed help getting out of here fast, and that someone was after him. The next second..."
Raz pantomimed a knife being driven into a back. "Shink. Blood everywhere. I couldn't see anyone, so I thought I thought someone shot him at first. I tripped in a panic, only to get grabbed by someone I couldn't see, then lifted onto my feet. Then he appeared. Tall, blonde, one eye red and one eye yellow. Black and red clothes, a Psych-OSF soldier. I swear I've seen him before, but I don't remember his name." Raz rubbed his head ruefully. "Joke's on me for not bothering to memorize everyone's names, I guess. Anyway, he said something like 'hate to do this to ya, but I've got places to be'. He pushed the knife into my hand, grabbed the box Zanotto was carrying, and ran away, turning invisible." The boy sighed. "Then you all showed up the next second. It all happened so fast, I was kind of in shock. Didn't even realize what it looked like at first."
Sakura took in the story with a sigh, rubbing the back of her head. So, it wasn't Raz, and if they ever see the murderer she'll have some very punchy questions to ask. "Seems like some spy stuff. I have no idea who that is.”
"Um...sorry about all that, by the way." Lili looked very embarassed as she walked over from where Zanotto's body had lain. "I really flew off the handle. I guess...you know, it'd been a really bad day already, I just snapped." She glanced at the orange cables encircling her clothes. "Maybe they shouldn't have picked me for BIAS after all. A Brain Field is way too much power. And it's an incredible rush. That stuff's dangerous."
Sakura nodded at Lili. "It's okay. I mean for me getting blown up, if that's what you meant. You thought your dad just died so...I can't even imagine." Sakura said sympathetically.
But she looked over at Raz out the corner of your eye. "A quick 'I didn't do it' couldn't have hurt, though."
"I know, I know! You were in shock. Sorry."
"...but still. Couldn't have hurt."
Raz looked defensive. "I did say I didn't do it!" In fact, he'd been in such a hurry to get that out as fast as possible that he'd tripped over his own tongue trying to say it. He crossed his arms. "Since we're, uh, apologizing though. I should say I'm sorry for running off and leaving you guys in that creepy hospital with that ghost. What the heck happened down there?"
"I didn't hear that. I heard 'oh gimme a second, oh, wait, hold on, just wait.'" Sakura opened up and closed her hand like it was a mouth, and made her voice more higher pitched.
"Oh, uh, the creepy hospital? There was a really bad guy down there who was stealing brains somehow. And I met two of my old squadmates who got freaking brainwashed. And the whole thing is like, on purpose, being done by Psych-OSF. So now we're wanted criminals because the bad guys are in charge." Sakura explained.
Letting the mimicry slide for now, Raz stared at Sakura with his mouth ajar. Lili seemed a little more composed, but she didn't quite manage to hide her horror, either. "You're not kidding? That's crazy!" Raz shook his head in disbelief. "Sounds like something Dr. Lobato would do. I guess you didn't find out how they're stealing them, or why?"
Sakura looked between the both of them and their horror. She got most of her horror out at the place itself, though.
"Uhh..." She scratched her head, recalling the details. "Something about a psychic pool, the psynet...the Brainframe? Just hundreds of brains all hooked up like a big computer. The scientist there was using them like batteries, I guess. More power." Sakura said.
"And the leftover bodies were turned into monsters, so...yeah." Sakura finished with a frown, puffing out her cheeks as she exhaled. "P-pretty bad. Pretty bad."
The two former Psychonauts couldn't help but concur. Without knowing more details about Brain Drain's lab, its nature was going to remain a mystery unless the group paid a visit, and the encounter with Anima by itself had been too much for Raz already.
In the silence that followed, Lili held up the spirit she'd taken from her father's body for a closer look. "I swear this guy looks familiar," she muttered, squinting at the individual pictured within the spirit. "Maybe I saw him somewhere around the Otherlobe? But he doesn't look like a soldier. What was this random spirit doing in my dad's body?" Her face scrunched up with discomfort, tears welling up in her eyes despite her fierce attempt to control them. "And what about my dad? Does this mean...he's..."
Sakura looked thoughtfully on at the spirit, wondering what he was up to, what his schemes were. Her face fell as Lili began to fear the worst.
"H-hey, y'know it- it doesn't mean anything." Sakura said. She tried to think of the advice Geralt gave to her.
"It just means people like and trust him so he'd be a good disguise. I'm sure he'll turn up if you don't find him first." Sakura said, trying to cheer her up.
Her vague assurances weren't all that effective, but it wasn't like Raz could offer much better. To her credit, Lili didn't break down blubbering, instead taking a deep breath and keeping as stiff an upper lip as she could manage. After all, she was a soldier. "That box you mentioned," she said to Raz. "Must be why that guy killed him. Or some personal vendetta, maybe. If dad, or...whoever that was, really was involved in all that shady stuff. Maybe he had it coming." She carefully withdrew a small hard case from her belt and placed the spirit inside. "Still. I won't rest until I get my answers."
"Well, good." Sakura said with a serious nod.
Sakura tuned back into the main conversation. "In the meantime, it looks like we’re heading to Arahabaki to find the Guardian."
"Arahabaki...it sounds japanese, but I have no idea what it means." Sakura mused.
"But if there’s nothing standing in our way anymore, we should get right too it." Sakura was ready to keep moving. "Probably gonna be a long trip though and I don’t know if we’re going to be able to easily rest in all the fighting…" Sakura thought aloud. "But there’s nothing for it. We have to try."
Sakura took in everything she had seen while hunkering down against a projectile storm. Sasha could turn off Sclerokinesis, meaning relying on the ability was a non-starter. Sakura looked at Pit, they nodded to each other, and then they rushed at Sasha from the sides. She curved her run to come at him from a different angle from Pit. If she managed to reach, she leapt forward with a spinning kick to try and knock him forward, closer to the wall of fire.
On his opposite side, Pit closed in with the floating shields orbiting in a circle directly in front of him. Both orbitars fired bolts of energy at Sasha. The shots could hardly be compared to the man's wind bullets, but they were meant to provide some cover while he and the street fighter got within melee range.
When the new foes approached, Sasha promptly opened fire. Though he himself targeted Sakura, triple-shots hammering her in quick succession, Prism Break meant that a refracted barrage flew toward Hanabi and Pit as well. Those shots proved to be too much for the pyrokinetic’s fire wall and blew it out just as Hanabi partially Luka with a persimmon-flavored Medium Jelly. Sasha did not anticipate that the angel approaching in his peripheral vision would come packing something special. His wind bullets reflected off Pit’s orbitars and bounced right back to deal some damage. He stumbled briefly but collected himself to face the angel, not sure what had happened. As the orbitar bolts flew in he dodged away, then put his fingers to his head to nail Pit with a flurry of powerful psi-blasts.
Sakura had tried to dodge the shots aimed towards her, but getting clipped all she could do was try and find her footing and grimace as the triple-shots battered against her guard. In between shots she dashed and tried to move further to the side to continue to divide Sasha’s focus. When he turned to fire upon Pit, she figured this was as good a time as any. Sakura leapt forward, moving fast and bringing her arms up, and tried to slam Sasha from behind to knock him into the ground with a ranged Sakura Drop. Unfortunately for her, she hadn’t quite grasped the nature of his Prism Break ability. Even when he seemed to target Pit, Sasha’s refracted body fired toward her and Hanabi as well. Mid-attack, she got counterhit by the first refracted psi-blast and juggled by the rest. ”Bwah!” Hanabi only avoided a similar fate by forfeiting any attempt at offense and running sideways the moment she got Luka to his feet. Right now, it was Pit’s time to shine.
A boost of confidence from catching Sasha off guard brought a small grin to the angel's face. He continued forward in doggedly pursuing Sasha, knowing that so long as he could see the Septentrion's attacks he could dodge, block, or reflect them. But because the Orbitars were so highly defense oriented, once he did get in close he'd have to assume some risk and quick swap to another weapon for the best chance to actually deal some damage and leave him open for their close range specialist to move in too. Even if the man fought with his mind, Pit doubted Sasha would go down that easily under a physical assault from just the Orbitars - after all he was slinging around those two big weapons.
Pit evaded the first couple psi-blasts, waiting until he was a little closer to reflect the psychic beams back to their originator. Staggering the man again would be great, but if he could just make him think twice about firing due to the bounce back it would be enough for Pit to close the gap with a burst of speed. His trusty Upperdash Arm would be able to give Sasha a taste of his own medicine and pop him into the air for follow up attacks while simultaneously giving Pit a moment's worth of protection, so long as he didn't miss.
As Pit approached, he narrowly evaded a few psi-blasts, and while Sasha’s excellent aim meant that the angel took a couple as well, those were hardly enough to stop him. This time, Sasha got the full scoop on how exactly Pit managed to shoot him, not to mention a faceful of his own psychic bolts when the orbitars returned them to sender. He stopped shooting, momentarily at a loss while Pit closed the gap. For a brief moment he thought he saw an opening as his foe sped through the final stretch, but when he leveled the barrel of his manacaster at Pit, his target armored straight through the spread shot to launch him off his feet and into the air. “Ugh!”
Seeing the chance, Hanabi skidded to a stop near Sakura in a cloud of flame rather than dust, her eyes landing on the spot where Yuito had fallen. Back on his feet, Luka blinked over to take hold of Yuito and teleport him to safety, but using Brain Talk the injured psionic sent a message Hanabi’s way. ”Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Seize this opportunity!”
Hanabi nodded, her face serious and determined. “Let’s go!” she cried, charging forth alongside the street fighter to join her for a tag-team combo on Sasha.
”Iku yo!” Sakura shouted, her headband trailing behind her. I’ll go high and send him down! She informed the pyrokinetic Hanabi.
Sakura leapt high into the air to meet Sasha before he could recover. She delivered a swift barrage of punches and kicks to various parts of Sasha’s body, each one causing them to almost float in the air just a bit longer. When she felt gravity begin to take purchase after a few strikes, she flipped and slammed Sasha down towards Hanabi, hoping she had something special waiting for him down there. The psionic did not disappoint, whirling around in a miniature hurricane of flame to deliver a home-run slam that didn’t just ignite Sasha, but also throw him dozens of feet down the street.
The Upperdash Arm had faded away by the time Pit came to join the girls, letting out an excited "Yes!"
As Sasha’s momentum petered out he recovered in the air to land on his feet with the help of Levitation. It would take more than one big combo to knock him out, but this was a good start. Hanabi realized the bigger problem when her focus shifted from the Septentrion to the war machine behind him.
By now, the Sectopod had more than enough time to turn back around. Narrow lateral vents had opened along its hull to give off steam as its internals cooled down from using its Wrath Cannon, but it was still very much in action. While the Seekers scrambled to catch Sasha, it adopted a high stance, towering almost twice as high and boosting its aim. The moment it had a shot, it opened fire with three crimson plasma bursts from its top-mounted blaster, one for each of the three. In the heat of the moment, Hanabi hadn’t noticed the threat until it was too late and wasn’t ready to dodge - but nearby, her angelic ally was just quick enough to pick up the slack. He had the means to prevent another vicious volley like the one that had downed Roxas and nearly himself earlier, so with a beat of his wings he pushed just ahead of Sakura and Hanabi. "Not this time!"
The Guardian Orbitars glowed brightly and projected the giant winged shield of their charge shot. This one couldn't reflect, only protect, but it was wide enough to cover both girls and Pit himself. The plasma shots broke apart against the shimmering energy wall, rocking the projection but unable to shatter it. A few seconds later the shield dropped, and Pit's arms along with them when he'd thrust them forward with the Orbitars. He was sweating from the exertion so soon after the wounds he'd so recently taken, but the three of them were unharmed from the assault and could continue after their target.
Hanabi swallowed. Her heart was pounding, and she’d be lying if she said her knees weren’t a little weak. With the damage she’d already taken, she might have been toast. But for the moment, she was safe. “Th-thank you!” she squeaked before clearing her throat, trying to regain her composure.
Sakura lowered her arms, the oncoming plasma beams having caught her by surprise as well. ”Ah! Thank you, Pit-kun!” She said, grabbing his shoulder reassuringly. The magic must have been taking its toll on him. ”Do you think you can keep that up?” It was a question worth considering.
"Not constantly," he replied, giving the girl a quick smile to let her know he was alright. "but I've got a couple more in me!"
Sakura nodded, turning her back on the Sectopod to focus on Sasha. Charging up a more powerful but slower hadoken, she launched it towards the psychonaut and followed behind it. It would block some shots thrown her way and hopefully give her some free space. If he moved to get around it, she could just readjust accordingly. Then she afforded a glance over her shoulder to keep an eye on the Sectopod and what it was aiming at. A dangerous game, splitting her attention like this. It made her sweat.
Sasha used SAS to activate Levitation. He flew up into the air, well out of the hadoken’s range. Prism Break had timed out at some point, so the refractory effect around him was gone, which he naturally knew better than anyone. While he had all the stacks of Enemy Insight he needed to make Dirge Shot a pulverizing deathblow, he needed to land some more attacks to charge that skill again. His manacaster floated out of his hands and took the place of his giant crossbow on his back, which itself floated into his hands. Done with close quarters for now and ready to snipe, he activated his second skill, Sunpiercer. His new weapon began to refract, and when he fired the harpoon-like bolt at Sakura, a second one shot at Pit.
Sakura was ready for it, watching the magic weapon aim at her. When he let the bolt loose, she sidestepped it and preemptively blocked any area of effect while its twin struck one of Pit's sturdy orbitars, falling to the ground. She looked up at him, tilting her head back, mouth falling open as she worked her brain to think of a way to get up to him. He just started to reload.
Of course, part of what enabled Sasha to assume a less aggressive fighting style was the threat of the Sectopod. After only a few seconds, it was ready to fire again. That was when Luka’s voice cut through the chaos of the battlefield to enter Sakura and Hanabi’s minds with Brain Talk. ”Watch closely.” The captain teleported across the street in a series of blinks, his final jump putting himself right next to one of the Sectopod’s legs. He transferred his momentum into a huge smash into the walker’s armored ankle, then ignited his Weight Hammer in Hanabi’s flames and brought it down on the huge metal foot. Whipping around, he dealt one final blow to the Sectopod’s other leg before teleporting away again, and a second later the Sectopod unleashed a flash of lightning in a circular field around its legs. With that out of the way, it began targeting the Seekers again, only for Luka to reappear and stub its toes once more. He promptly fled before the war machine could shock him, disappearing into a hiding spot to recharge his Teleportation while he helped the others fill in the blanks.
”I’ve fought alongside Sectopods before. They’re designed to electrocute anything that gets into the blind spot directly beneath it. However, they can only execute three attack commands in quick succession, so each shock is a shot it can’t take.” He paused for a moment while the Sectopod used its last action, firing at the car he was hiding behind. With it primed to explode, Luka started running, but he continued transmitting as he did. ”I have one other idea. We can try teleporting above it to take out its blaster. We’ll need to coordinate it though, and we’ll get shot if we try it while Sasha’s on overwatch.”
”Okay!” Hanabi replied back.
’That sounds like a plan!’ Sakura chimed in. They needed Sasha distracted, and Sakura was right underneath him. But she wasn’t sure she was best for the job of air-to-air combat. With a frustrated little sigh as she ran around the battlefield, she turned and ran back towards the Sectopod. She sped along the street, the big robot growing in her field of vision. With a leaping spin kick, she aimed to slam into one of its knees with both her feet. ”Hiyah!”] She yelled. Bending her knees from the impact she pushed away, back flipped, and looked to see if that had successfully triggered a shock from the robot. Her success was confirmed when her hair began to float and get staticky, the electricity gathering beneath the bot before it shocked the entire area. Sakura circled around it, keeping it having to circle, dashed in, kicked at its knee joint and then dashed back out. While she worked at this important but repetitive task, avoiding the occasional deadly stomp, she kept an eye on the battle with Sasha to see when he was distracted so she could target the cannons with the others.
”Alright, I’m babysitting this big ugly robot, go get him!” She reported over Brain Talk.
Though not quite privy to the plan, Pit was aware enough to recognize what his allies were doing. If they had something in mind to deal with the robot, then he would keep his focus on the Septentrion. So it was that while the Sectopod was being engaged, Pit took the fight to Sasha once again. "Here we go!"
He couldn't fly, but at least he could use his wings to get up high. He leapt up, beat his wings and kept going up in what amounted to a triple jump. The Orbitars still circled around him, firing at their target while ready to protect their user. This time his goal was to get a hand on Sasha, bring him down onto a more even playing ground, and surged towards the man with that in mind.
Sasha instinctively aimed the tip of his newly-loaded crossbow bolt at Pit when the angel rose up to meet him, but he didn’t fire. Instead he focused on evasion, dashing through the air. Those orbitars were a big issue. One might say the only issue. The spectacular aim and overabundant output of Psych-OSF’s Septentrion Third Class could spell the end for almost anyone, but a projectile reflector was a hard counter. Oh well–maybe it would be fun to put in some real effort for once.
Simultaneously, he used SAS to activate Sabrina’s Psycho-ergokinesis and Will’s Precognition. He began by using Future Sight, foretelling an attack that would befall Pit in twenty seconds on the dot. Then he let go of his crossbow with one hand and thrust his palm forward, emitting a heavy force wave with Psychic. This wasn’t a projectile; just raw motive force. He was interested to see how this experiment would turn out.
In response the Orbitars ceased their fire and came together in front of Pit. They didn't bounce the psychic wave back, but their divine protection blocked Pit from damage and even from being pushed. It also slowed his own momentum considerably, resulting in the angel falling short. He grabbed onto a light post on his way back down, swinging himself up on top of it and getting ready to try again. He couldn't let up lest the man interfere with Luka's plans to take down the Sectopod. And... if Sasha was playing defense, then he might be able to get away with switching to something a little more offensive. Maybe even take the man by surprise again by quick-summoning the Orbitars into being this time.
It could work, but it could also fail spectacularly. Without Lady Palutena's risk assessment, Pit quickly made his choice. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
He felt he had to take the chance that the Septentrion would try and focus on the opponent in front of him rather than those battling the Sectopod. Pit fired off a few more shots from the Orbitars at Sasha for a little cover, then switched over completely to his bow. As one weapon faded away and the other faded into existence, Pit leapt towards Sasha again. The bow should work - its arrows faster and stronger, its reach longer, and since he wouldn't be caught in the slow effect he could still use angel ring for some last ditch defense if he really needed to. Pit drew the drawstring back and fired, the arrow of light already tracking its target. The angel himself followed soon behind, ready to bring the man to ground.
Sasha hung in the air while Pit broke his fall and gathered himself up for another go. If he wasn’t moving, his stock of borrowed Levitation power decreased at a negligible rate, so he calmly loomed above the battlefield to take stock of his experiments’ results. As expected, the orbitars couldn’t reflect a wall of force, but it looked like those wings of Pit’s weren’t much good for actually flying. The Septentrion cataloged that factoid and readied himself for round two. When more shots flew up toward him he kept moving, steadily hovering just fast enough to outpace the divine volley. When his opponent changed weapons, Sasha found himself intrigued. Why would Pit trade out the orbitars that had already proved themselves rather effective against his own abilities? Once fired the arrow homed in on Sasha tightly, and while he didn’t manage to dodge it, it dealt low enough damage that he could focus on cutting short Pit’s ascent. What a novel concept. He took hold of his crossbow with both hands and fired–not a crossbow bolt, but a single psi-blast from his forehead, fast enough that Pit might not notice the difference until it was too late.
A veteran despite his youthful looks, Pit reacted swiftly and simply. He saw something headed his way and flicked the bow in his hands to deflect it. Whether it was a physical, elemental, or psychic attack, Pit was sure that heavenly material could handle it. The psi-blast in flight curved slightly to miss his weapon, not unlike his own arrow, and strike Pit instead. A brief moment later, Future Sight took effect, dropping a payload of psychic energy directly on top of the angel like a huge sack of flour.
"Guh!" The psi-blast he could have powered through, and fully intended to, but the mysterious sudden force sent Pit plummeting to the ground again. He bounced when he hit the pavement face first, that impact snapping him back into action. He was on his feet again faster than one could blink, wiping the blood that dripped from his nose while his face burned hot with embarrassment.
That was a cheap shot! He thought, having fallen for the invisible, unknown sucker punch of an attack completely. But more than that, the sight of the Septentrion just floating up there... Stupid PK levitation... If I could fly on my own, this would be a totally different fight!
But he couldn't just stand there and seethe. He was fine sticking to the role of defending if he had to, really he was. He'd learned a little while fighting together with Giovanna, so he knew he didn't have to try and handle the bulk of a fight on his own. Still, he'd wanted to at least try and soften Sasha up more for when the others were done with the Sectopod. To keep him busy but also deal damage... Pit needed a totally new kind of weapon.
New Power: Violet Breaking Palm. Another divine weapon initially appearing as a whirling rainbow orb, the palm allows its user to harness their own life energy in the palm of their hand, conjuring projectiles with the best homing and rapid fire capabilities of any of Pit's arsenal. When summoned it replaces Pit's currently equipped weapon and the orb is absorbed into his skin, appearing as a colorful glowing tattoo on his right arm and hand. It has the ability to fire near constant barrages of homing shots like arcs of light, limited only by Pit's stamina as it draws on his vitality to do so. The shots don't do much damage individually, relying on quantity of hits, but they do more damage the closer they are to the target and the energy can be combined into one much larger, stronger shot by charging or dashing. It also boosts the power of Pit's melee attacks, particularly palm strikes.
The Palutena Bow in his hand disappeared, gold sparkles falling to the ground. In its place a bright, shimmery rainbow orb of energy, the Violet Palm, was willed into being. Pit raised his right arm, hand open as the orb was absorbed into the center of his own palm. The rainbow aura wrapped around his entire limb, staining his skin from fingertips to shoulder with colorful, glowing ribbons.
This was a pleasant surprise. How much of his old divine arsenal could he summon if he just wished really hard? Regardless, Pit grinned and took aim.
"Just what I needed!" The colors of the tattoos surged, and from the center of Pit's palm a fusillade of prismatic energy shot out, converging toward Sasha all at once with speed rivaling that of his light arrows.
Just as Sasha geared up to take Pit down with a psychic barrage, the angel pulled out something new from his bag of tricks. Rather than be impetuous he paused to see exactly what form the weapon would take, and what Pit unveiled did not disappoint. “Hm.” The Septentrion began to move, dashing through the air to avoid the barrage. This was quite the bullet storm, but the sky was vast; he knew he’d be able to avoid it as long as his Levitation held. Which wasn’t much longer. He could see the SAS gears for his entire squad in his mind’s eye, and Milla’s Levitation was almost out from all his aerial maneuvers. Precognition and Psycho-ergokinesis were dwindling too, so Sasha switched them all off so they’d start recovering faster. Of course, the moment he hit the ground, this fight was on for real.
Once he switched back to his manacaster and engaged Prism Break, the dance began, filling the street with divine rays and roaring winds. Pit and Sasha ducked, dodged, and swerved like hummingbirds in flight just above the ground, belting out an absurd amount of shots that polluted the area with magic. Neither could avoid them all, and nor could they really tell how much it was working on one another, so they both kept at it, confident they could wear their opponents down before they themselves succumbed. While their shootout couldn’t be called ‘tame’ from the get-go, the party got even crazier as both gradually moved closer and closer, as both their weapons grew stronger at close range.
It was an intimidating display, a veritable tornado of fireworks almost impossible to get into, but Hanabi knew she needed to help. As hard as it was to tell, it looked like Prism Break might be giving Sasha the advantage. With only one opponent in range, each triple-shot turned into nine all aimed at Pit, and since they could hit no other targets they all received a damage boost on hit. She couldn’t just sit on the sidelines, and despite the danger, she had an idea. Borrowing Yuito’s Psychokinesis, she seized a large street sign and brought it to the ground. Once she jumped on, she tried lifting the sign beneath her to fly into the air, but in her haste and unfamiliarity she couldn’t get the thing off the ground. “Urgh, come on!” she grumbled, stomping the sign.
“Here, let me help.” A certain hand fell on Hanabi’s shoulder, her face reddening as she realized who it was. She turned to see her childhood friend climbing onto the sign behind her. “You can’t force it. Why don’t we work together.”
“Yuito!” Hanabi couldn’t help but smile, though she also looked a little worried. “Aren’t you still hurt?”
He shook his head. “I’m fine. Besides, if we can’t help our friends through this, it won’t matter if I spent a few more seconds resting. Let’s do this!”
“Let’s!” Applying their Psychokinesis together, the two floated into the air atop their street sign. It began to fly through the air like Gisu’s hoverboard, the weighty object quickly picking up speed. After a moment it soared into the divine windstorm, soaking up stray projectiles with the sign’s underside. Sasha was so laser-focused on solidifying his victory in the firefight that he didn’t notice the soldiers flying in until it was too late–and it smacked him right in the shoulder, bowling him over with a grunt.
With the projectile storm on pause, Pit's allies could get a more clear view of him. He was littered with the evidence of Sasha's Wind Bullets and their effectiveness; his chiton torn near to shreds, leathers scuffed, and body wind scorched. Raw, red wounds dotted his form. There was a particularly painful throbbing in his wings where he'd been hit, unable to keep them completely protected, and he was so out of breath that it looked like he might double over at any moment. Stubbornly he stayed upright.
"Nice going!" he gasped, sucking in a breath of air at the same time. Pit let the energy in his Palm coalesce and moved in. "I've got him!"
Pit wasn't a master martial artist, he much preferred his ranged weaponry to anything else, but he was a soldier and he knew his basics. Not to mention the Violet Palm was uniquely suited to this kind of "unarmed" combat. First, an angled strike, not unlike a beast attacking with its claws. A quick follow up with the back of his knuckles let him pull his arm back only to thrust forward again in an open palm attack that poured the divine weapon's gathered power into it.
Sakura dodged a stomp and rolled through the legs of the Sectopod and stood behind it. ”Are we ready to take this thing out?!” She asked in Brain Talk.
“It’s now or never!” Luka replied.
Sakura leapt on top of the Sectopod, there being a long half-second as she pinwheeled her arms as she ascended. But she managed to land, grabbing onto the top with an exhale. She eyed the troublesome cannon from the side. Clambering up, she grabbed onto the top of the cannon for balance and began slamming her fist into the futuristic steel. There was a dent and a few resounding bongs, but Sakura pulled her fist away and shook her wrist, wincing.
In a flash Luka had teleported up beside her. Rather than try to push his small frame against the blaster, he ignited his Weight Hamer with Hanabi’s Pyrokinesis and attacked the weapon itself. “Just hit the stupid thing!” The weapon itself was a lot more delicate than its mount. Unfortunately, they’d made less-than-stellar use of precious seconds. Recognizing the atypical behavior at last, the Sectopod began to withdraw its blaster to seal it in its compartment, preventing further attack. With a grunt of frustration Luka made the call, jamming his hammer into the mechanism to halt its movement–at least until his weapon broke. He activated Psychokinesis to reach for anything he could use to strike the blaster with, but right now it was on Sakura to make this moment count.
”I’m gonna try something!” Sakura yelled. The problem was she didn’t have the leverage or balance to really lay into this thing like she normally would. Sakura had enough stored power for an EX-move or two. Time to put it to use. She crouched and eyed a small gap between the cannon itself and the chassis. Grabbing onto the gun with one hand, she pulled her other fist back. ”Midare Zakura!” Modifying her uppercut she slammed her fist into that gap and then wrenched it upwards. For a moment she almost vibrated as she pulled against the cannon. Then she flew up into the air as she pried it off, the cannon flying high into the sky. Flailing in mid-air, she used Mental Connection to attach herself to Luka and pull herself back onto the top of the Sectopod.
Thanks to the pair’s combined efforts, but especially Sakura’s flashy finale, sparks flew and the Sectopod staggered as if in pain. ”...Critical damage to secondary weapon. Secondary weapon inoperable,” its deep mechanical voice confirmed. Of course, that was only the beginning of the walker’s problems while multiple bogeys remained perched atop its chassis. The Sectopod wasn’t built to emulate a bucking bronco, but there were ways that its artificial intelligence could try and salvage a situation like this. Turning ninety degrees, the Sectopod started moving toward the nearest building. It quickly covered the distance thanks to the huge stride of its high stance and showed no signs of stopping.
“Time to bail!” Loathe as he was to abandon his weapon, Luka wanted to get smashed through a solid wall even less. After a final fruitless tug of his hammer’s exposed shaft, he teleported away.
”Crap crap crap! Sakura yelled, and joined him, leaping away into the air before teleporting herself down far away from the ground. The next moment the Sectopod banked and slid into the brick facade of a three-story craft brewery, hard enough to send anyone still standing on it into the wall. Of course, the Sectopod could easily just walk through the building if it wanted, but the Septentrions’ directive had been clear: property damage at an absolute minimum.
Meanwhile, Sasha had picked himself up off the ground. It had been a while since he’d hit the pavement like this; Pit’s assault following his allies’ interference wounded his pride as much as it did his body. Still, a Septentrion could take much more than that, and Sasha wasn’t about to lose his cool. He had five foes to work through here, and couldn’t spend any more time on this one. “Hmph.” Letting go of his manacaster, he activated Brain Drive, and as his hood popped up to veil his face in shadow he put both index fingers to his head. Immediately a psi-bolt surged forth, split into three by Prism Break. Two of them shot in the direction of Hanabi and Yuito, who were in the middle of recovering after their shared spill, but Sasha assumed direct control. All three curved toward Pit, snaking through the air at high speed. Tuckered out and with Palm still equipped, it was all Pit could do to try and avoid them, but it was no use. They chased down his dodges, confounded his blocks, and bypassed his attempt to reflect by curving around the quick-summoned orbitars. After an all-too-brief moment they converged and hit home, each boosted by 225% percent and converted to physical damage. Pit got launched and comboed in the air by subsequent hits, and just when it seemed to be over Sasha sealed the deal with a bolt from his crossbow. Prism Break had just run out, but Sasha was still armed and dangerous.
Yuito and Hanabi ran in, their weapons ready to beat Sasha down before he could shoot them first. The Septentrion seemed to read their mind, however, and practically the second they both activated Sclerokinesis, Sasha dispelled it. “Karmic Quietus!” The next instant a psi-blast shot out Yuito’s leg from under him, bringing him down hard.
“Yuito!” Hanabi cried, turning to look at him. Almost immediately she took a psi-blast to the gut, doubling her over, followed by one the jaw. She went slack-jawed and saw stars, barely even feeling it when she hit the ground beside her friend. The air behind Sasha distorted, and Luka teleported in to grapple him from behind. He grabbed hold and strained with all his strength, but to his dismay the strength he’d spent so long trying to cultivate in his tiny body wasn’t enough. Sasha held firm and fired two psi-blasts that arced around and struck Luka in the back, prompting him to release his hold with a gasp. The Septentrion whirled around with a backfist, then calmly reloaded his crossbow and fired it point-blank. Luka hurtled backward, struck a trash can that bowled him over, and did not rise.
By that time Yuito had picked himself up to one knee, cradling Hanabi in his arms. She just groaned, completely dazed. Without a word, Sasha levitated his manacaster again and took it in his left hand, the crossbow in his right as he used his mind to put a new bolt in its place. Just one foe left standing.
At that moment, however, he heard one word that shattered his composure. Sasha. Letting go of his weapons, he whipped around and fixed his gaze on the fallen woman down the street, over whom Midna and her flygon were looming. An ice-cold hand gripped his heart. He and Milla were unstoppable together, but they’d fought separately, their trust in one another complete. Now, though, he realized he’d made a critical mistake. “MILLA!” he bellowed, breaking into a headlong sprint. His weapons floated after him as he sped away, his speed boosted by Levitation–the one thing that told him that his beloved Milla was still alive.
That left just the Sectopod against Sakura, Pit, and the Psych-O soldiers. It also realized what was going on, and ran to position itself in between Sasha and his opponents to make sure that he could make it to Milla safely. ”Assuming point position,” it said, shifting to low stance. Its Wrath Cannon, the only ranged weapon it had left, began to charge. ”Hurry, commander.”
Sakura’s jaw dropped, watching several of Luka’s platoon including Luka himself be down for the count. Sasha was distracted, though, after that. Breathing elevated, Sakura stared down what was still her primary target- the Sectopod. It began to charge up its big one, the one it already fired. ”There’s nothing for it, Pit-kun! We gotta!”
The street fighter ran straight on. She used Teleport to cover the rest of the distance, and then slammed her foot into the knee joint of the Sectopod. Dropping onto one leg she spun, flashing orange and blue as she did a low, sliding spin kick into the very same joint, before punishing it even more with a final straight kick. In her desire to interrupt its cannon, she didn’t relent, kicking and punching and trying to break this thing's leg to get it to cancel its Wrath Cannon. ”Can we knock it onto its back?! Watch for the zappy!” She exclaimed. If they could get it pointed skyward the blast would do nothing!
After Pit picked himself back up, he let out a vague little noise of agreement. With no real support or healing to offer, getting back into action as quickly as possible was the only thing he could do to help. The tattoos on his arm faded away, though for a moment nothing replaced them. Pit blinked, refocusing - it just took an extra second or two. Right now he determined the best thing he could do was to bring the Guardian Orbitars back into play. If they couldn't disable the Sectopod, at the very least he could stop its cannon fire... assuming his shield held.
It will hold, he told himself, and then launched himself forward to join Sakura's attempts to topple the machine. If she, Luka, Yuito, and Hanabi destabilized it, he might be able to give it the final push to knock it over using the same heavy uppercut that he had when first breaking through Sasha's attacks. Until the chance came up the orbitars fired upon any of the Sectopod’s perceived weak spots, ready to defend against its cannon if their gambit failed.
Despite its damage and its lack of options, the Sectopod held off against the nimble fighters as best it could. By pre-charging its electric pulse and then bringing a foot down with a stomp, it could take its shockwaves to its opponents, but it met with only limited success. Sakura (who could take more hits) fought offensively, while the rest (who could not) helped out more conservatively, spread out enough so that even if a giant laser blazed their way, it couldn’t erase them all. This was a dangerous game, after all, and it had reached its final round. Between Sakura’s attacks and the psionics’ thrown objects, damage to the walkers’ legs mounted, their armor weakened. Its Wrath Cannon was its last chance. It stepped back, its targeting lasers locking on to Sakura, and braced itself.
”Firing main cannon.”
”Oops.”
The huge beam illuminated the street once more, breaking the fog of war with a crimson dawn.
Sakura’s form was completely consumed by the light as she stuck out her hands and turned her head away, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Sakura!" Seeing the Sectopod focus on her, Pit banked in her direction with the orbitars stretched as far from his body towards her as they would go. He hadn't expected it to fire on someone so close to itself, so he was farther away from the girl than he should have been. Now it looked like his shields wouldn't make it in time to cover her.
When the light cleared, she was laying on her back much farther away from the Sectopod than she was before. She opened one eye and rolled onto her side with a groan. Her whole body was stinging. It was hard to breathe, and she certainly couldn’t take another hit like that. But on the whole… ”That’s…not even the biggest giant laser I’ve been hit by.” Sakura said, genuinely surprised she was still conscious. She was thinking it would be worse than Ryu’s Shinku Hadoken, but in reality it wasn’t even as powerful. If she had the meter for it she probably could have clashed with it with a Shinku Hadoken of her own and tied, or even come out on top.
”I-I’m okay! I really thought that would be a lot worse!” She exclaimed with a nervous laugh. ”Just gimme a second.” She began to push herself to her feet. If she had just face tanked it, she’d probably be down until Round Two as it were. Instead, though, she had used her defensive ki to block it.
It was a surprise, and a huge relief, to see that the street fighter was alright. Well, maybe not a total surprise; she was one tough cookie after all. Still, her laugh broke the tension, and so Pit turned back to the Sectopod. "Okay then," the angel said, taking a deep breath. "Let's finish this thing off already!"
He led the charge while Sakura recovered, moving in with the Upperdash Arm and ready to smash the thing apart. With its limited arsenal, the Sectopod couldn’t do much to stop it. The Upperdash Arm crashed into its leg strong enough to momentarily destabilize the walker, proving the the damage levied against it earlier was adding up. It then went for an electric shock to try and capture the angel in a defensive blast of lightning. It was only the fact that he knew what was coming thanks to Luka's earlier demonstrations that Pit could avoid the electricity in his fatigued state. He hopped back twice, getting out of the lightning's range. With the Sectopod standing in one place and unsteady, he didn't have to worry much about missing with his Arm either - so once the electric field petered out he repeated the motion, this time dashing in and jumping up to smash the robot's main chassis, where he hoped some control center would be close to frying.
Sakura re-emerged from behind and spun forward with an EX-Tatsu, slashing three times into the back of the bot's leg before slamming into it with a mighty straight kick. ”Seyah!”
Thanks to their combined efforts, the two managed to close it out. Impaired motor functions meant that the Sectopod couldn’t mitigate the damage to its legs for long, and after a little more punishment, the walker’s limbs buckled beneath the weight of the chassis. It hit the ground hard, cracking the asphalt of the street. For a brief moment it just lay there. The fight was over, as it could no longer mount an assault. There was only one thing left it could do.
”Forgive me, commander.”
The Sectopod’s red lights began to blink as its five-second self-destruction sequence began.
“Get away from it, now!” Luka yelled hoarsely, his voice uncharacteristically panicked.
”Yup!” Blinking red lights always meant a bomb. Sakura promptly booked it and then dove away, covering the back of her head. Letting the Arm fade from his own, Pit also retreated. He turned to watch the explosion from a safe distance, shading his eyes with one hand as the force pushed hot air out around it.
Now that they were both clear of the explosion, Sakura sat up. ”Phew!” She rose to standing, and then lifted her hand to Pit for a high-five which the angel enthusiastically obliged.
Before moving onto rejoin the others, Sakura scratched her head and looked upon the ruins of the Sectopod. She didn't expect for it to talk to itself... Sakura looked away and moved on.
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